The Republican mantra of the past couple of decades has been to tout the miraculous benefits of tax cuts for the wealthy and at the same time to dismantle all programs that may benefit the middle and lower income groups.All these have been advanced in the name of improving the competitive positions of our corporations in the global marketplace.That the results have been less than spectacular has not deterred the ideological diehards from even thinking critically about their course of action.If anything, they slip into the embrace of their “religion” with the same fanaticism and zeal one used to attribute to old line communists.
In thinking about this from a small businessman’s perspective, I believe that business would benefit immensely if we simply ditch that supply side voodoo and proceed sensibly toward a, what else, a New Deal for Small and Large Businesses in this country.
I think a publicly funded ( yes, taxes) education program up to four years of college for all, medical insurance for all and a strengthened Social Security for all would actually wind up costing us less, spread benefits and what is most important, remove these burdens from all our businesses.Those burdens, lasting for generations, have brought Ford and GM to their heels and threaten to do the same to many small businesses.
Imagine what a publicly funded system to provide access to education, healthcare and retirement benefits will do to our society. It will help improve the talent pool of people needed by businesses,will relieve, if not eliminate legacy costs for many corporations and eliminate the burdens that many businesses carry as part of their normal operating expenses.Those burdens alone can make the difference between profit or losses in many small corporations.
The only reason this is being opposed by the rightwing ideologues is that despite what the benefits to the country or even to businesses it may bring, they simply do not want governement to succeed. That blinder is costing us plenty and it is going to cost us even more as one country after another leapfrogs us.
Adding insult to injury, the same zealots are also standing in the way of advancing science and medicine through their opposition to stem cell research and evolutionary biology.Countries like India which were worried about their place in biotechnology are now boldly predicting that an explosion in advances is coming and that it could earn them more than a trillion dollars a year in the next ten years. They are funding huge programs in education in the biological sciences just like they are doing in the IT sector.Yes, these are done with public funds but they know how to calculate the cost/benefit ratios better and have no ideological blinders to stop them.
Sitting here contemplating the impending lay offs at both my husbands plant and mine, I couldn’t agree more…small business is being hammered and large business is leaving. And the people in charge just call for more of the same. Having health care tied to employment is absurd-I’m working with a woman who’s dying, in pain, but if she stops, no health insurance, no meds, no comfort for her last days. She could throw herself onto the scant mercy of the system but it would mean losing any real comfort she has outside of medication. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this happen and she’s a brave strong person, not looking for pity but it hurts to see her have to do this. The system we have is not working, on any level that helps those of us at or near the bottom of the heap.
Maybe that’s the point, let us die off. And then the right to suffer people would intervene at those last moments…is the weather nice in Venezuela I wonder?
I feel saddened about your friend.I know many people in similar situations who have lost all medical benefits and simply postpone any visits to the doctor because they cannot even afford the copay.
It is clear that our system has failed our people and the fact we have a system that ignores the plight of millions speaks volumes about the quality of the system in place.The only reason universal health care is being opposed is because the health insurance companies stand to lose profits and they simply cannot afford to see a public health insurance program succeed.Similarly, our medical professions and the pharmaceutical industry are locked in an embrace to sell expensive drugs and expensive procedures that few of us can afford.
And we do not have any one pointing out that all of this affects the profitability of small and large businesses.This is why I posted this because I see its impact on my own small business.Why we continue to do the same thing over and over again despite its failure beats me.As Einstein said, that is the definition of insanity.